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In Forgiveness, May 26
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Luke 23:34
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Christ is our example. He placed Himself at the head of the human
family to accomplish a work the importance of which men do not com-
prehend because they do not realize the privileges and possibilities before
them as members of the human family of God.... His mercy was not
weakness, but a terrible power to punish sin.... yet a power to draw to it
the love of humanity. Through Christ Justice is enabled to forgive without
sacrificing one jot of its exalted holiness
Christ taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors,” and added, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive your trespasses.” ...
Will you not, if any one has done you a wrong, and is too proud and
stubborn to say to you, “I repent,” go to the offender and say, “I love you
for Christ’s sake, and I forgive you the injury you have done me”? Jesus
will witness and approved of this deed of love; and as you do to others, it
shall be done again to you
We are to have a spirit of pity, of compassion toward those who have
trespassed against us, whether or not they confess their faults. It they fail
to repent and make confession, their sins will stand registered in the books
above to confront them in the day of judgment; but if they say, “I repent,”
then ... we are freely to forgive from the heart their trespasses against us
True happiness does not consist in the possession of wealth or position,
but in the possession of a pure, clean heart, cleansed by obedience to the
truth.... To every one is given the opportunity to carry out the principles
of heaven. The forgiving of injuries, not the avenging of them, is an
exhibition of that wisdom which is true goodness. Christlike love for
the men through whom the Lord has wrought is a manifestation of real
transformation of character
[154]
72
The General Conference Bulletin, October 1, 1899
.
73
The Youth’s Instructor, June 1, 1893
.
74
The Youth’s Instructor, June 1, 1893
.
75
Letter 229, 1905
.
157